RIP Boo Radley English

Boo Radley English (? – July 26, 2006) was put to sleep yesterday. She had adrenal disease.

You were the king of clowns, my fetid friend. You were conniving and devious. I know you would have been the perfect partner for a heist and I wish we had the chance to drink together. I want to see your crooked stagger again. I’ll miss you living in my sock drawer. God bless you.

Ferret Facts:

Male ferrets are Hobs and Female ferrets are Jills. Neutered they become gibs or sprites. If you get a bunch of ferrets together, they are a business of ferrets or a busyness of ferrets. A baby ferret is a kit.

Ferrets are extremely intelligent.

Ferrets sleep a large part of the day, commonly around 18 hours.

They have been domesticated for probably 2000 years or more, and were brought to America as pets as long as 300 years ago.

The name ferret is derived from the latin furonem, which means “thief.” Ferret owners can attest that this is a well deserved name, as they will happily steal anything they can get their paws on and hide it in their house.

Ferrets come from the same family (“Mustelidae”) as badgers, wolverines, sea otters, skunks, mink, weasels, black footed ferrets and polecats.

The distant ancestry of the domestic ferret is somewhat of a mystery, although they are very closely related to the European polecat.

The scientific name for ferrets is a somewhat controversial area – Mustela putorius furo is traditionally used, although recent scientific evidence has suggested they should have a name of their own, Mustela furo.